That's the title to Michael Putney's article on immigration in today's Miami Herald. He suggests that our community should focus on "assimilation" as the way to curb crime and the high school dropout rate, one of the highest in the nation.
Good luck on that. Although the article is about Haitians, its really about all the other immigrants living here who just don't get it: you're living in America, land of opportunity, take advantage of it and forget about where you came from. That place never did anything for you because if it had, you wouldn't be here now.
Unfortunately, it seems immigrants of high school age don't value a free education or the "old school' work ethic to achieve the American dream. Those that do graduate from high school can barely read and write. The ones that don't graduate, enter our world with no skills but lots of in-your-face attitude. Putney reminds us that most of the gangland style killings last year were between Haitian gangs warring over turf.
He also uses the controversial Andres Oppenheimer article a few weeks ago that foresees a "generation of disaffected and angry young Hispanics, the children of undocumented parents, who strike back against those they see as the oppressors" to make his point that young Haitians will be leading the rebellion here.
We see it coming from both sides. Good luck to us all because it's worse than you think.
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